Dana Brown

Why governments intervene: Exploring mixed motives for public policies on corporate social responsibility

Why are national governments increasingly adopting policies on corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Government CSR policies have been explained either as a means of substituting or supporting (mirroring) domestic political-economic institutions and policies, or as a means for government to promote international competitiveness of domestic businesses. Both sets of explanations see governments as driving CSR policies to meet particular national government goals. Support is found for the thesis that CSR policies are often related to international competitiveness, yet our findings suggest that government goals in this regard are not necessarily pre-defined.

Domestic Institutions and Market Pressures as Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility: Company Initiatives in Denmark and the UK

In recent research, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives by companies with a home base in different countries have been explained in terms of their relation to national institutions or business systems. This set of explanations sees CSR as fitting in with domestic institutional structures by either ‘substituting’ or ‘mirroring’ national models of capitalism. An alternative set of explanations views company CSR programmes as determined by market pressures. We examine the role of domestic institutions and market pressure as drivers of CSR through an evaluation of the content of company CSR initiatives revealed in their external reporting. We conduct case studies of two large British companies (Glaxo Smith Kline and Barclays) as well as two large Danish companies (Novo Nordisk and Danske Bank). We find that market pressures rather than domestic institutions determine the content of company CSR programmes.

Persistent unemployment and passive policies: Politics and institutional change in post-communist Poland:

This article explains Polands approach to unemployment in the postcommunist era as a case of path dependency, driven by institutionalized practices and cultures in key domestic policy-making organizations. The roots of Polands passive and benefits-based unemployment policy are traced to the period immediately following regime change, which is defined as a critical juncture in social and economic policy-making. Policy choices in this period reflected the predominant reliance on market mechanisms to improve welfare. These choices have been reproduced over time despite widespread agreement that unemployment policies in Poland are failing both in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.

Why Governments Intervene: Mixed Motives for Public Policies on CSR

Why are national governments increasingly adopting policies on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? What is the rationale and purpose of these policies? Scholars from various disciplines including Political Science, International Relations and Management Studies have offered explanations for this phenomenon. Research has tended either to rely on cross-country comparisons that generalize tendencies within given countries; or to over-generalize global trends. The current paper analyzes particular CSR policies in two countries – Denmark and the United Kingdom. We find that the rationales for government initiatives on CSR are neither consistent across countries or within them. Instead, CSR policies are utilized to address multiple issues crossing various areas of governance, including domestic social policy, global competitiveness policies and foreign policy.